Tan Sri Dato' Azman bin Hj Mokhtar is the Managing Director of Khazanah Nasional, and also sits on the board of trustees for PEMANDU

KhazanahNasional Plans To Sell Pantai Medivest And Pantai Fomema

04/9/2011

KhazanahNasional Berhad is planning to Pantai Medivest Sdn. Bhd. and Pantai Fomema & Systems Sdn Bhd, valued at around MYR 150 million, to focus on its core healthcare services business. Khazanah is believed to have appointed PricewaterhouseCoopers to manage the sale of Pantai Medivest and Pantai Fomema. "We are in the process of disposing it. We are in talks with a few parties," said a Khazanah spokesperson. He declined to name the interested parties. ~ Businessweek

Tan Sri Azman, as the Managing Director of Khazanah Nasional Berhad, we must first of all congratulate you and your team for generating a total return of 39.4% for 2010, and outperforming even the KLCI.

But we have a simple request at this juncture. Seeing that PricewaterhouseCoopers has a habit of being appointed by both PEMANDU and Khazanah Nasional, two important bodies in which you hold very important positions, can we request that you inquire of Mr Chin Kwai Fatt, The MD of PricewaterhouseCoopers Malaysia, why he cannot get his firm, to ratify the Corporate Integrity Pledge released by PEMANDU?

We are rather perplexed that PricewaterhouseCoopers is not backing this pledge, especially considering that they do numerous audit related and non audit related jobs for PEMANDU, the GLC's and a number major corporations, many of which Khazanah Nasional is a shareholder in.

And considering that Khazanah Nasional has recently appointed PwC Malaysia to manage the sale of Pantai Medivest and Pantai Fomema, it would look rather odd that the largest audit firm in the country is not a party to something as crucial to the fight against fraud and corruption as the Corporate Integrity Pledge.

Chin Kwai Fatt, the MD of PwC Malaysia. Has not signed any report against this blog with the MCMC or the Malaysian Police. Has also not backed the Corporate Integrity Pledge by PEMANDU.

Another factor that makes us wonder why Chin Kwai Fatt and PwC have not backed the Corporate Integrity Pledge is because we know that Mr Chin Kwai Fatt had absolutely no problem at all in signing a false declaration in 2008. That being the case, what is stopping him and his firm in backing this pledge?

If the worry is that a firm like PwC Malaysia, which has so many allegations of fraud hanging over the heads of some of its senior partners like Chin Kwai Fatt, will look hypocritical if it signs a pledge as clear on its stance against fraud and graft as the Corporate Integrity Pledge, then we must ask why they are still being appointed to jobs which we hope do require a great measure of integrity and high ethical standards?

Tan Sri Azman Mokhtar, please understand our concern as there is only one Khazanah Nasional and one PEMANDU, but there are numerous alternatives out there to PwC Malaysia, which do not come with the taint of fraud and other low things.